La Liga Betting: Real Madrid can score narrow victory

Two of the best defences in La Liga meet when Real Madrid host Athletic Bilbao and Dan Fitch is predicting a low scoring win for Zinedine Zidane's team, as he previews the weekend La Liga action.

Barca will return to winning ways

Barcelona 1.17 v Alaves 23.00; The Draw 8.80
Saturday 21 December, 15:00
Live on Betfair Live Video

Barcelona's home advantage in Wednesday's El Clasico counted for nothing as they drew 0-0 with Real Madrid.

Real Madrid looked the likelier winner in the first goalless match between the rivals since 2002. It left Barcelona still top of La Liga on goal difference ahead of Madrid, but they forfeited the opportunity to build a sizeable gap over the chasing pack.

Barcelona have now drawn their last two games and will be expecting to get back to winning ways against Alaves. As inconsistent as Barca have been this season, they have remained reliable at home against the sort of opposition that they are expected to beat.

Alaves are without a win in four (D1 L3) and were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Real Jaen in midweek. In four of Barcelona's last five home matches in La Liga they have won both halves and you can back them to do so again at 2.00.

Getafe being underestimated

Villarreal 2.30 v Getafe 3.70; The Draw 3.25
Saturday 21 December, 17:30
Live on Betfair Live Video

A number of different clubs have found themselves in the top four this season and Getafe are one of the current incumbents of the Champions League spots.

Fourth in La Liga, they are currently in very good form, despite having to juggle their domestic commitments with a Europa League campaign. Getafe are now unbeaten in eight matches across all competitions (W6 D2), winning the last six.

In La Liga games, they are unbeaten in seven (W5 D2) and have only lost three games all season. Those defeats all came against top opposition, in the form of Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla. It's therefore puzzling to see Getafe as rather big outsiders against a Villarreal side that are 13th in the table.

Villarreal enjoyed a fine 2-1 win away at Sevilla in their last league outing, but that was their first win after a run of six La Liga matches without victory (D2 L4). Getafe are 1.73 to avoid defeat in the Double Chance market.

Miserly defences meet

Real Madrid 1.40 v Athletic Bilbao 8.60; The Draw 5.20
Sunday 22 December, 20:00
Live on Premier Sports 2

Real Madrid can feel relatively pleased with the point they earned at the Camp Nou, even though they enjoyed enough possession to have won the match.

A second-half goal from Gareth Bale could have seen Real take all three points, but it was disallowed due to Ferland Mendy straying offside in the build-up. Nevertheless, the draw extended Real Madrid's unbeaten run to 12 games (W8 D4).

Athletic Bilbao are not in quite such good form, but they have only lost one of their last nine (W6 D2). Seventh in La Liga, they are just three points from the top four and can boast of having the joint second best defence in Spain's top flight. Bilbao have conceded 12 goals in 17 games, which is the same amount as Real Madrid.

This has the potential to be a low scoring game then, with under 2.5 goals at 2.40. It's worth taking a chance however, on a Real Madrid win and under 2.5 goals, which is priced at 4.00.